FlightStats: Airline and Airport On-time Performance For December 2011

Blessed by mild weather during December and the busy holiday travel season, North America's top airlines maintained their strong on-time arrival performance in December. Cancellations were minimal during the month - 6,914 flights were canceled, just slightly above November's 6,692 numbers and flat percentage-wise. (.84% in Dec vs. .85% in Nov.). December 2011 cancellations were dramatically lower than December 2010 when over 29,000 flights were canceled (3.54% of scheduled flights).

December's on-time arrival performance for the remaining operated flights was 78.94% compared to just 67.94% in December 2010, 80.8% in Nov. 2011 and 81.06% in October 2011.

North America's top 10 performing airlines in December were:

FL Airtran Airways - 91.79%

QX Horizon Air - 90.56%

CP Compass Airlines - 90.38%

HA Hawaiian Airlines - 90.29%

YV Mesa Airlines - 89.09%

DL Delta Air Lines - 87.40%

US US Airways - 87.15%

XJ Mesaba Aviation - -87.14%

9E Pinnacle Airlines - 86.21%

AS Alaska Airlines - 85.54%

Delta led the majors again in December reaching 87.4% on-time performance. Here's how the N. American major carriers on-time arrival percentages compared:

DL Delta Air Lines - 87.4%

US US Airways - 87.15%

AS Alaska Airlines - 85.54%

B6 Jetblue - 83.42%

UA United Airlines - 81.42%

AA American Airlines - 79.82%

CO Continental Airlines - 77.77%

WN Southwest Airlines - 74.41%

AC Air Canada - 60.9%

Year-end Cancellations Summary

Despite the mild weather conditions in December 2011, North American air travelers were more likely to have suffered from canceled flights in 2011 than in 2010. We counted 211,665 canceled flights (2.12% of scheduled flights) by the forty airlines we track monthly for this report in 2011. That is up substantially from 2010's total of 174,225 (1.78% of scheduled flights).

There is a link below to the full report for 2011 airlines and airports.

NB: FlightStats on-time performance calculations are based upon data collected from a variety of sources- both primary and secondary. Our coverage of any single airline's flights varies in percentage terms. In some cases, only secondary sources can be obtained that represent a subset of an airline's total flight operations. This is especially true for certain low-cost carriers, notably Easyjet and Southwest Airlines.

Therefore, the calculations represented here should, in general, be considered indicative of an airline's performance but not a definitive measure. We continue to work hard to fill in our coverage gaps. However, reaching 100% coverage will require the cooperation of some airlines that, at present, are unwilling to participate.

Here are links to the latest detailed North American airline reports including a summary report for 2011 and previous years:

While Tokyo's Haneda airport predictably stayed atop the list of the world's 50 busiest airports with 94.64% of its commercial flights departing within 15 minutes of schedule, US airports were well-represented among the top 10. The average on-time departure performance among the top 50 airports in December was 74.33%, up slightly from November's 73.47% and continuing a slightly upward trend from October's 73.81% and from 72.49% in September..

The top 10 performers among the world's busiest airports were:

HND Tokyo, JP - 94.64%

SEA Seattle, WA - 88.40%

MSP Minneapolis, MN - 88.20%

CLT Charlotte, NC - 86.62%

NRT Tokyo, JP - 86.58%

MCO Orlando, FL - 86.54%

DTW Detroit, MI - 85.97%

CGK Jakarta, ID - 85.05%

KUL Kuala Lumpur, MY - 84.90%

ATL Atlanta, GA - 84.71%

Download the detailed reports for the ACI/IATA top 50 World Airports here including the 2011 year-end on-time performance summary:

TPA, Tampa's airport, had the best on-time departure performance among major North American airports in December with nearly 89% of its flights departing within 15 minutes of schedule. The average on-time departure performance for the group in December was 80.14%, compared November's 79.18%, October's 79.35%, and 77.86% in September.

TPA Tampa, FL - 88.93%

SEA Seattle, WA - 88.40%

SLC Salt Lake City, UT - 88.32%

MSP Minneapolis, MN - 88.20%

OAK Oakland, CA - 88.13%

PDX Portland, OR - 87.52%

CLT Charlotte, NC - 86.62%

MCO Orlando, FL - 86.54%

MEM Memphis, TN - 86.24%

DTW Detroit, MI - 85.97%

Download the detailed reports on North American airport departure performance including the 2011 year-end summary report here:

European airlines turned in a strong set of on-time performance numbers in December with 27 airlines delivering their passengers to their gates with better than 80% timeliness. The average OTP for the group in December was 77.82%, down from November's 80.78% and 80.49% in October.

The top ten on-time arrival performers among European carriers were:

ZN NAYSA - 96.07%

AP Air One - 90.49%

WA KLM Cityhopper - 89.54%

T3 Eastern Airways - 89.22%

U2 EasyJet - 87.92%

4U Germanwings - 87.86%

VY Vueling Airlines - 87.62%

VO Tyrolean Airways - 87.58%

LO LOT 4,598 3,985 87.51%

SN Brussels Airlines - 86.75%

NB: FlightStats on-time performance calculations are based upon data collected from a variety of sources- both primary and secondary. Our coverage of any single airline's flights varies in percentage terms. In some cases, only secondary sources can be obtained that represent a subset of an airline's total flight operations. This is especially true for certain low-cost carriers, notably Easyjet and Southwest Airlines.

Therefore, the calculations represented here should, in general, be considered indicative of an airline's performance but not a definitive measure. We continue to work hard to fill in our coverage gaps. However, reaching 100% coverage will require the cooperation of some airlines that, at present, are unwilling to participate.

Download the detailed report on European carrier arrival performance including the 2011 year-end summary here:

Japanese airlines continued their dominant performance among Asian carriers. JAL, ANA and their respective subsidiaries once again took all of the top five on-time performance positions in December. The average on-time performance rating among the 21 airlines we analyzed in December was 75.23% compared to November's 79.43%, 79.58% in October and 80.33% in September.

Here are the top five's numbers :

3X Japan Air Commuter - 95.03%

JL JAL - 92.95%

NU Japan Transocean - 91.73%

EH ANA Wings - 90.48%

NH ANA - 88.86%

Note: Our coverage of Asian carriers is limited due to a lack of available data sources. We listed only those carriers for which we have statistically significant gate departure and arrival information. If you don't see your airline listed here or would like to see a more complete representation of your data, please contact meara@flightstats.com to arrange for a data exchange.